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The Sixties Scoop was the nickname of a policy enacted in Canada from the 1950s through 1980s that allowed government authorities to remove Aboriginal children from their homes and place them for adoption with typically non-Aboriginal families. This policy followed a long pattern of laws meant to assimilate rather than help Aboriginal people within Canada, and it caused many children and families distress, confusion, and detachment. Following the lifting of the policy in 1990, the Canadian government acknowledged its wrongness and offered a settlement to the affected people.

On February 15, 1965, the familiar red and white maple leaf flag of Canada officially became the country's national flag. Designed by George Bist, Jacques St. Cyr, and Gunter Wyszechi, the flag was approved by the Canadian parliament on December 17, 1964, to take effect on February 15 of the following year. The official ceremonies were held that day in the capital city of Ottawa on Parliament Hill, with Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson and Governor General Georges Vanier presiding over the event.

Victoria Day is a Canadian holiday that takes place on the Monday prior to May 25 of every year. It honors the birthday of Queen Victoria, who was born on May 24, 1819, and ruled as queen of England and all its various possessions, including Canada, from 1837 until her death in 1901. She was the longest-reigning monarch in British history. May 24 first became a public holiday in 1845 by declaration of the legislature of the Province of Canada. After the queen's death in 1901, the Canadian parliament gave it the name Victoria Day, to be celebrated on May 24 of every year, unless May 24 fell on a Sunday, in which case the holiday would be observed on May 25. In 1952 the modern custom of celebrating Victoria Day on the Monday preceding May 25 was established by statute and announced annually by proclamation until 1957, when it became a permanent holiday. Victoria Day is most commonly celebrated with parades, marching bands, floats, and speeches by prominent politicians. Due to health concerns surrounding the global COVID-19 outbreak that began in late 2019, the large Island Farms Victoria Day Parade, which takes place in the city of Victoria and had been held without fail for 122 years, was canceled.

William Lyon Mackenzie King was a skillful politician who managed to hold together for almost three decades a Canadian political coalition composed of very strong support from Quebec, Ontario, and the Maritime Provinces, and moderate support from the other provinces. Like earlier successful Canadian prime ministers, including John A. Macdonald and Wilfrid Laurier, King understood clearly that a party could maintain a majority in the House of Commons for extended periods of time only by satisfying the needs and aspirations of both English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians. Until his death in 1941, Ernest Lapointe from Quebec was King’s most trusted adviser. Numerous other Quebecers served in important positions in King’s governments, which always included a balance of ministers from Quebec and English-speaking provinces. King had an uncanny knack for sensing which policies would be politically acceptable to Canadian voters, and he modified his positions several times during his many years as Canada’s prime minister.

The view of empire that prevailed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when Great Britain acquired most of the possessions that made up the British Empire, was based on the mercantilist system: Colonies, it was thought, existed to complement the economy of the mother country, mostly by producing staple raw materials that would be exchanged for the finished products manufactured at home. The American Revolution (1775-1783) called that doctrine into question. The thirteen colonies had evolved from producers of staple raw materials, such as tobacco and cotton, into diversified economies with their own multifaceted social structures. These, in turn, demanded recognition in the political sphere, and when they did not receive that recognition, they wrested political autonomy from Great Britain by force.

By the time James Wolfe captured Quebec in 1759, the sixty thousand French Canadians living there had become a distinct community. For 150 years, they had been an outpost of the French Empire and had carried the French flag and Catholic cross within sight of the Rocky Mountains. To ensure the loyalty of the French in Canada, the British Quebec Act of 1775 was passed, granting the French special status to retain their feudal landholding system and establishing church and civil law. The French Canadians were in essence a nation. In this way, both the British and French communities maintained a tradition of respect for authority, continuity, and the rights of collective communities. The role of governmental authority was widely accepted by both communities, and in the case of the French, the role of government was reinforced by the clergy, who administered most educational, health, and social service institutions. The clergy also gave influential advice on how to vote in certain matters, advocated a high birthrate, stressed an agricultural economy to counter the homogenizing effects of industry, and encouraged loyalty to constituted authority. Politics and racial/ethnic relations in Canada

William Lyon Mackenzie King was born in Berlin (later Kitchener), Ontario, on December 17, 1874, and died at Kingsmere, Quebec, on July 22, 1950. King’s political career began in 1909, when he became labor minister in Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier’s Liberal government. In 1911, the Liberals were defeated by the Conservatives, and King lost his parliamentary seat. In 1919, King was reelected to Parliament and chosen as leader of the Liberal Party. He led the Liberals to a majority in the 1921 federal election but could muster only a minority government in the 1925 election, and this government soon lost a confidence vote. The Conservatives formed a government that quickly collapsed, forcing another election. King again won a majority, and he governed until 1930, when the Liberals again lost to the Conservatives. The defeat was a political blessing, as the Conservatives were forced to govern during the worst years of the Great Depression. In the 1935 election, the Liberals, led by King, were reelected and he returned as prime minister, winning three straight federal elections before his retirement in 1948.

The New Democratic Party (NDP; in French, Nouveau Parti Démocratique) is a social democratic Canadian political party. The NDP has never formed a national government in Canada, although it has formed several provincial governments. Even without forming a majority government, the NDP has a significant influence in the Canadian political process. In 2019, public polling suggested the NDP would perform well in federal elections; however, the party did not perform as expected and failed to gain seats in parliament. The NDP believes in a having a mixed public-private economy and prioritizes social programs, such as socialized medicine.